Dalata's 2018 Trading In Line With Market Expectations

Dalata Hotel Group has announced that its trading in the final four months of the year has been as expected and its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the year ending December 31, 2018, will be in line with market expectations.

Market review

On a like for like basis, revenue per available room (RevPAR) at Dalata hotels grew by 8.8% during the 11 months to the end of November. Like for like growth excludes hotels opened in 2018 as well as the Tara Towers hotel, which closed in September 2018, and hotels to which significant extensions were added.

Dalata's regional Ireland portfolio achieved a RevPAR increase of 5.3% for the 11 months to the end of November, while RevPAR at the group's UK hotels grew by 3.2% during the period.

Delivering On Expectations

Dalata deputy CEO – business development and finance Dermot Crowley commented, "2018 was earmarked as a year in which we would complete a substantial number of rooms, and I am delighted that we have delivered these projects on time and within budget. We have opened two new hotels in Dublin and a new hotel in each of Belfast and Newcastle. We will open Maldron Hotel South Mall in Cork later this week. Early trading indications are very positive. As an example, Maldron Hotel Kevin Street in Dublin opened in July and achieved occupancy levels of over 90% in each of September and October. We also completed significant extensions at three of our Dublin hotels and one of our Galway hotels. We look forward to the opening of our new Clayton Hotel City of London in January 2019.

Brexit

Crowley added, "We note the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the final outcome of Brexit. To date, we have seen no negative impact on trading in any of our hotels in the UK or Ireland. We did deem it prudent to complete our refinancing package earlier than originally planned and are now happy to have debt funding in place until at least late 2023, on improved terms. The positive trading impact of hotels opened during 2018 will be significant on a full year basis in 2019 which in turn will reduce our Net Debt to EBITDA ratio as we go through next year."